A Form of Etertenty
by MrPointy2
Summary: A Crossover with Frank Herbert's Dune. Leto II discovers a threat from the past and calls upon the Slayers to help.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Isn't she wonderful, the Slayer? Look at her! She is a predator with superb fighting skills and access to pre-life memories both secular and divine. She has access to the other lives within her without the threat of abomination. This gives her and her kind a unity and focus of purpose that transcend the trivialities of her environment that transcend the trivialities of the local now. _

_How so much like my Fish Speakers she is! This is what I wanted from the human race. This is what I have been looking for. This is where I start my search for the elements to build the road that will become the Golden Path. Who would have thought that after thousands of years and untold worlds the fate Humankind would be found in the nursery we abandoned before the dawn of time. A planet called Earth._

_-Leto II_

_From the Unbound Volumes_

_Tleilaxu Archives_

_Face Dancer Translation_

Leto the second, God emperor of Dune, The Great Worm and sole and absolute ruler of the Human race was on safari. In the Spice rich bowels of his citadel he meditated in an intense and vivid spice induced trance. _Safari_ is what he called it. He was hunting memories. Down a chain of memories he would go greeting ancestors, long dead and turned to dust, as if they were here in the chamber with him right now. Not only was he seeking memories, he was seeking perceptions, understanding, wisdom.

In the infinite sea of billions and billions of memories Leto the second, sole remaining heir of the House of Atreides, a Human-Alien hybrid that has lived for over three thousand years came across something in his memories that was just flat out freaking _weird_. And this thrilled him to no end. After millennia of sameness, after millennia of knowing _everything, _after the _aching_ sameness of thousands of years the Universe gave him a reward. It gave him a surprise.

What could be described as a thrill swept the length of his pseudo-sandworm body. He came across a string of memories that changed everything he understood about the possibilities of the Bene Gesserit , the Fish Speakers and even the Honored Matres. In prehistoric times there existed a class of female warriors, that fought to preserve the Human race at any cost up to and including sacrificing their own lives. They were called Slayers. There was one Slayer in particular that held his attention, one Slayer which after a deep and meaningful meditation on the implications of her actions, held him in the grip of a terrible awe.

Leto the second, God Emperor of the known universe paused for one full minute out of respect for her. He had questions that needed answering. Chief of which was _what sort of name was Buffy?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Disclaimer - I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate Executor. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon.

"The demands of power and love often complement each other and quite often the presence of Love influences the uses of Power. Love provides clarity. Power provides means. The execution of one can be influenced by the other. When I gave my daughter, Irulan, to the Atreides it was to seal the bond between the royal family and rebel Fremen. I used her. I know this. But I know I loved her, even as I gave her away. I don't know if the same could ever be said of Paul Atreides."

Emperor Shaddam IV

Speeches in Exile

She stood on a catwalk in a ragged tower build by madmen with the sun rising behind her. She held her sister firmly and whispered in desperate tones to her. She knew her time was short.

"Be brave, Dawn, Live – for me." With that Buffy turned, ran the length of the catwalk, and launched herself into the burning abyss. She knew that by doing this everyone she loved would be safe. Mystical energies wrapped around her. She was dead before she hit the ground.

"Fascinating", Leto II thought to himself as he reviewed the memories of ancient Sunnydale events. Since the discovery of these genetic memories he rationed the evoking of them to only a few hours a day. Like the prehistoric televised serials he would limit himself to remembering only a few episodes of Buffy life a day. Yet, other memories forced themselves on him. Other memories of death and sacrifice.

"Close your eyes, baby" Buffy said.

Angel, his soul fully restored, closed his eyes at her simple command.

Buffy rammed the sword thru him as the vortex from Athucla swallowed him whole into a dimension of unending suffering.

Leto opened his eyes and exhaled. Even after 10,000 years, the depth of what it cost Buffy to perform a necessary action was almost too much for him to bear. Leto could not grieve for her choices at this time. Other events were demanding his presence.

Moneo Atreides, his majordomo, stood before him wearing a single black uniform and gesturing towards the monitors.

"The rebels have pierced the perimeter. They appear to have made off with a few volumes of your journals." Moneo said with an understated urgency.

"The Journals are not important" Leto replied.

"They may find something in the journals that may allow them to hurt you, My Lord." Moneo said with a twinge of desperation. "If we can stop the rebels…"

"NO!" Leto said sternly. "They are nearing the forest. Soon the wolves will have them. Death is a personal experience. I will not interfere"

"But, My Lord…" Moneo cried

"MONEO" Leto roared.

Moneo froze not daring to move a muscle. He knew the signs. Evidence of the berserker rage were evident along the length of Leto's body. Moneo slightest movement could result in his death. After an hour, Leto calmed down. His worm-like body stopped it's twitching.

"I know Siona is with them. She is your daughter, She is Atreides. She must be tested." Leto said in his kindest voice.

"Yes, my Lord", Moneo said humbly.

"Now to other issues. Has the item been located?" Leto asked.

"Yes, my lord. Moneo reported. We found it in a bubble of no time in the basement of ancient antiquities next to the jawbone of an ass.

Moneo scurried to open the ancient dust covered gray metal box. The words "Property of United States Army" had long ago disappeared.

"I don't see why this artifact is so important. It is a simple chemically powered weapon. It would be totally ineffective against a lasgun or even the simplest shield generator. What value could this useless thing have?"

"Ah, Moneo my friend. The artifact provides experience. There are some things that Humans have handed down, in secret, from generation to generation. Occasionally, we must measure the distance we have traveled by measuring against a fixed reference. This "useless thing" was once used to slay a monster." "This "useless thing" provides proof that She once existed." Leto said.

Moneo looked over the cylinder shaped device with a new found awe. "Tell me my lord, "what is a rocket launcher?'


	3. Chapter 3

I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate Executor. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon.

I get lost in my memories sometimes. Not because I've gone on memory safari but because the universe constantly takes every opportunity to present the past disguised as something new. The Universe repeats it's lessons over and over again. It's up to us to learn these lessons well and never forget them.

Leto II

Parameters of Eternity

Data Retrieval Network

IX

"Did you find it?" Leto asked.

"Yes, Lord. It was exactly where you said it would it be." Moneo said.

They walked along the eastern citadel wall. It was near dark. The orange Arrakis sun was setting behind a sheaf of blood red clouds. There was enough water vapor on Dune to change the color of the sky. Leto could smell free water in the air. The worm within screamed to encapsulate it. Leto struggled to keep himself under rigid control. His Bene Gesserit training helped.

"Liet-Kynes would have been proud of me." Leto thought to himself. "The ecological transformation of Arrakis is complete." Leto thought of the ecologist as if he was just here yesterday. He still remembered the first time he met Leit. He was going with his father to inspect the spice production. Leit was kind enough to check the integrity of his stillsuit that recycled the body's moisture. The stillsuit made the human habitation of Arrakis possible. Without a stillsuit an exposed Human would die within a day from the dehydration. And then Leto remembered. He had never met Leit-Kynes. It was his father, Paul Atreides, who met Leit that day. Leto was not even born when that occurred.

"It was a secret planet, my lord" Moneo said, "Or more accurately, a secret base the size of a moon hidden in the atmosphere of a gas giant. We found it using high resolution imaging radar. We lost four Guild ships trying to get a better view." Moneo stopped and stared at Leto for a moment. "My lord, it was ugly, horrifying. It took all of my training to keep from running away from it. Every cell in my body told me that this thing, this moon was unnatural. That world should not exist!

"You don't know how close to the truth you are." Leto thought.

They stopped by a buttress to admire the view.

"What was that thing?" Moneo said, sounding like a frightened child asking his father about a body he found.

"On Earth it was called "The Deeper Well". It is a graveyard for monsters. The Universe is more complex and stranger than anyone can understand. There are forces in the universe I will not permit to Humans.

Leto looked into the night sky. He observed stars and nebula both ancient and distant.

"There are things in the dark for which Man is not ready." Leto said

"Have the girls brought to me." Leto said

The change in subject was not unexpected. Moneo had learned to anticipate Leto's moods. Decades ago the Fish Speakers began to preserve a small contingent of their daughters to be trained as special-forces, to be trained in the old para-bindu ways of the Bene Gesserit. The youngest of these girls was barely twelve years old.

Both Leto and Moneo turned and entered the ramp downward into the darkness and coolness of the Citadel.

"The Golden path must persist." Leto thought, " Humans have come so far, overcoming, tyrants, landscapes and machines. I cannot have those abominations threaten everything I've done. The last daemons of Earth must be utterly destroyed. I have millions of years of magic locked inside of me. I know things forbidden to even the great wizards. Even the great witch Willow Rosenberg. I'm going to get the young girls together, transform them and arm them with every weapon in the Atreides arsenal. The abominations must be destroyed. I am going to unleash the Slayers.


	4. Chapter 4

I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate Executor. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon.

"The thing about changing the world …Once you do it, the world's all different.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season #8, The long way Home, pg 1.

She stood in front of the Worm silent and unmoving. Her eyes watched it looking for a weakness. Every part of her wanted to kill it. The Worm was a monster and she was the slayer of monsters. The girl was silent, thin and well armed. Around her waist she wore a portable shield generator. She knew from her pre-born memories never to activate the Holtzman shield in the presence of the Emperor. The shield would drive the worm into a killing frenzy that not even her or her sisters could fight, yet. Hidden on her body were various grenades and strings of shigawire. In her hand was a blade made from an unbreakable metal forged in the heart of a dark matter star. Her olive colored skin still held the sheen of sweat from this morning's work-out. Every part of her being vibrated with a light and buoyant energy that focused her mind on the sand colored abomination before her.

"I am Surayya Raisa" she said speaking to Leto in tones that were clear and commanding. "Commander of Fish Speaker Special Forces Reserve Division." She pounded her right fist to her left breast once as a salute. "What are your orders, my Lord?"

"I'm sure she wants to kill me." Leto thought to himself observing the fifteen year old girl before him.

"Even now she's assessing my weaknesses, looking for a place to strike. I can tell by the way she holds herself in the prana-bindu way of static muscle tension. She is a predator."

"It is time." Leto said to her. His voice was amplified and delivered across the huge stadium sized training center.

Surayya Raisa briefly bowed her head to Leto as an acknowledgement. Her raven black hair fell across her face. Across the practice field thousands of young girls and their trainers snapped to attention.

"A year ago I discovered the memory of an artificial moon hidden deep in the atmosphere of the gas giant Tailos three. Leto said, "A reconnaissance fleet confirmed that the moon is still there. That moon is hollow and inside of it are monsters." Leto paused a beat while assuming his best Watcher tone.

He began to mimic the long dead Rupert Giles.

"The Earth, in the beginning, was not a paradise. It was a Hell. Creatures not spawn of nature, the Old Ones, warred among themselves as easily we breathed. When they died, their essence persisted outside of time, immune to decay or corruption waiting for a day of resurrection. The physical remains of these creatures were kept in a prison called, the deeper well hidden beneath the Earth. Thousands of years ago the deeper well was moved by a cabal of men using magic of an extreme and awful nature.

They used magic to hollow out a moon, to transport the remains of the Old One's inside the moon and at the appointed hour reawaken them."

Leto shuttered at what his prescient visions had shown him. Everything he had achieved over the last three thousand years would be destroyed if the Old Ones were released from their prison. The Human race would be cast into an eternity of suffering. The Golden Path would be destroyed.

"The Old Ones are stirring in the Darkness." Leto continued, "They are awakening."

Leto shifted slightly so that on the huge overhead monitors it would appear that he was speaking directly to the individual Slayer.

"Your dreams confirm this." Leto said. "You know the horrors of what is waiting in the dark."

A year of training the newly activated Slayers had included Spice enhanced lucid dreaming combined with mentat style data processing and memory recall. The new slayers were no longer raw and unfocused like their ancestors. With Leto as their Watcher they had become bright and sharp. The young girls that stood before him were the most dangerous beings in the Human universe. Their feral impulses were balanced by Bene Gesserit training.

"I wonder how the Honored Matres would fair against them." Leto thought to himself. "But, their time is not until after the Scattering."

Leto remembered Buffy Summers in the last days of Sunnydale and assumed her persona.

"Evil is strong, but there is one thing stronger than Evil and that is us. For today, we have become an army!" Thousands of Slayers raised their blades in a deafening roar.

"Surayya Raisa" Leto said to her.

"Yes, My lord" She responded.

"The word is given. Begin your assault on Tailos Three." Leto commanded.

Moneo joined Leto on the stage in order to accompany him back to the citadel. They both moved along the incline leading out of the training area back towards the keep. Behind them team leaders were handing out assignments and billets.

"My Lord." Moneo said as they reached the half way point." I have the operations reports from Giedi Prime. Sub-commander Allison reports increased smuggler activity and an increase in faux spice sales."

Leto suddenly stopped forcing his entourage to stop as well. From the entrance of the citadel came a huge explosion that ripped a hole in the side of the building spraying the incline with shrapnel.

"They watched me for a whole year timing how long it took me to go from the training field to the citadel. Leto thought pleased with himself. My girls are beautiful and lethal. They are ready.

Fish Speakers swarmed around Leto checking him for damage and finding none. Leto looked back over the training field spotting Surayya Raisa staring at him intensely like a hawk and not moving an inch."

"They are ready." Leto thought again. "I almost feel sorry for the demons."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**

I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon.

The lesson of fishing is this, you capture the fish by giving it what it wants. If it wants fresh tasty food you give it fresh tasty food but you also insert a hook that embeds itself into the flesh of the creature. This is how the universe traps us. It gives us desires and instincts that override the conscious mind. No matter how well we are trained we must always question the underlying motivations of our actions. That is why when we are off guard we resume our base state. Fish want to swim, birds want to fly and cats want to hunt.

"Introduction to political analysis"

Bene Gesserit

Freshman Guide

"The reconnaissance team has entered the Deeper Well." Afari Guerrero, the executive officer, reported.

"Excellent!" Surayya Raisa thought. She was spoiling for a fight.

Hours ago a small recon team, with her best telepaths, had entered the Deeper Well. They found nothing at first but a huge open landscape desolate of all life and movement littered with millions upon millions of coffins as far as the eye could see. A field of dead things that extended even to the landscape that hung over head. The landscape was dark, sterile and cold.

"Moneo was right," Alisha, the recon team leader, said, "This place is creepy. I felt it as soon as we dropped out of hyperspace." The team leader stood there in her armored environment suit that she had hand painted with the silhouettes of cute and fuzzy bunnies. "If my pre-life memories are correct, demons feared bunnies."

Days ago the fleet of thirty ships had entered the Tailos system which consisted of a pulsar, two minor planets, a gas giant and cosmic dust. It was over a thousand trillion cubic miles of empty radiation filled blackness. It was a huge graveyard. They dropped out of hyperspace ten million miles from the gas giant intending to go into a geosynchronous orbit above the hidden moon. That's when the first trap was sprung. A wave of radiation came out of nowhere and obliterated ten ships. Fifteen hundred slayers died. Aboard the flagship, "Memories of Dawn", Surayya was furious but there was nothing she could do except order everyone into their environmental suits which they wore constantly. The telepathic Slayers scanned the planet for hours and found nothing. The few magical Slayers they had left could not perform any reconnaissance spells that generated any useful information. Most of the magic users were killed in that first attack. Whatever hit them took out the magic users first.

"I need a recon mission." Surayya spoke to the bridge.

"I'll go captain." spoke up Alisha Itkin a young girl of thirteen. Her environmental suit revealed none of her beanpole figure. She wore her hair in twin blonde braids she tucked into her suit.

"Do it quick." Surayya said. "I need hard data on what's down there."

Surayya watched Alisha and her team enter the bridge elevator.

"Be Safe." Surayya said to her as the elevator doors closed.

After six hours of exploring Alisha and her team had turned up nothing. They stayed well clear of the coffins themselves. Leto warned them that just touching a coffin could bring an Old One back to life.

They were on the way back to the ship when they were attacked. Something fast and black sliced through two of the Slayers before they knew what hit them. Their bodies fell into bloody pieces before they hit the ground. The third Slayer was stabbed through the chest by something that looked like a claw and lifted six feet off the ground before her body was ripped in two.

Alisha felt it before she could see it. Dropping to the ground she felt the pressure of something heavy pass a fraction of an inch above her skin. Striking upward and backward she plunged her indestructible knife into the obsidian form. She was sprayed with green blood. She was preparing her second attack when something grabbed her head and ripped it clean from her body.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon.

"There are no answers. There are only tools, problems and time. Everything boils down to art and power."

Leto II

Notes to House Corrino

Written In the third year of sandtrout transformation

Leto watched Nayla leave the keep then turned his thoughts inward. Moneo's daughter, Siona, has been safely converted to his cause. Siona Atreides was one of them now. She had accepted her place in his creation of the Golden Path. But just to keep an eye on her, he assigned the Fish Speaker, Nayla, to watch over her and obey her in all things.

In the new Atreides calendar it was the season of the hawk. The air would cool in the evening and the heat that had been build up during the day would dissipate in a series of impressive thunderstorms. Ice crystals would form in the upper atmosphere causing the cloud density to rise. There would be rain on the surface of Dune.

Leto could hear Moneo's footsteps echoing in the hallway. Leto could tell by his gait Moneo was agitated. No doubt he was bringing news of the Slayer's war against the Old Ones. The Slayers had only been gone a few days but Leto was sure they had made first contact with the Old Ones. This was their first experience outside of the training camps. His slayers were aggressive and spoiling for a fight. No doubt there would be mistakes. Thousands of years of experience and memory had taught him that the lost of virginity was often a painful and bloody thing.

"My lord."Moneo said as he stopped a few feet of the God Emperor. Leto nodded to him.

"They have engaged the Old Ones" Moneo said, his voice flat. "There was a lost of ten ships during the initial contact and the subsequent lost of additional Slayers during a reconnaissance mission. Division Commander Raisa is considering her options.

"Considering her options" Leto though with an inner laughter. "That's an understatement. She is a Slayer that has tasted blood and she is considering her options? Leto was sure that Surayya Raisa had already made up her mind at the subconscious level. "Moneo, like most Humans, never understood what a Slayer was. A Slayer was not just a killer. A Slayer was something else. A Slayer is the servant of forces beyond even the Old Ones." Leto thought.

"Are you going to help them?" a voice from his ancient memories asked.

"Ripper." Leto replied to himself. "I haven't heard from you in a while. How are things in the revived watchers council?"

Leto had just enough genetic material from the descendants of prior watchers to recreate the council in his mind. Rupert Giles was elevated to the position of spokesman for the watchers council since his slayer had been one of the most successful slayers of all time. Giles was shocked and amazed at the basic changes in the Human race over the millennia but he adapted quite well. The idea of a slayer that had on-demand access to the lives all of all the previous slayers and advanced heuristic processing of prophetic dreams was a huge advancement of the basic slayer design. But Giles knew the risks of being a slayer. He knew that all it took was one mistake on a slayers part and evil would slip in and have itself a real good day.

"I ask you again." Giles said, "Are you going to do anything to help them?

To Leto, Giles sounded more like an overprotective father rather than a Watcher. Leto glanced at the blasted masonry placed there by the Slayers at the entrance to the keep.

"What would you have me do Rupert?" Leto thought to himself. "I've given them access to most of the weapons in the Atreides arsenal and I've given them the ability to call upon their communal wisdom."

"But they can still fail!", Giles pleaded. Giles remembered the first time he saw Buffy's sixteen year old face. "My God! She's just a baby." He had thought.

"Ah Ripper, there is no cure for youth." Leto replied. "Look on the bright side Giles." Leto continued, "They are fast learners."


	7. Chapter 7

I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Copyright 2009.

There is a tendency in Humans to avoid change. Humans gauge all actions against the possibility of loss or more accurately the pain caused by loss. Change is necessary. Without change we become stuck and our entire existence is placed in danger. History has shown time and time again that civilizations have been destroyed because Humans have refused to adapt to their new realities. It is instructive to study how civilizations struggle with the agony of change. All surviving civilizations come to the same conclusion. Without loss there is no growth.

Sonya Atreides

"The Physics of Revolution"

Introduction

Surayya Raisa sat in the war room. The main table of the war room was thick polished redwood trimmed in gold. The chairs were beige with gold trim as well. Surayya was surrounded by her council which consisted of her executive officer, two ship commanders, her best friend and hundreds of Slayers monitoring the meeting on conference call. So far, the meeting was a rehash of what everyone knew or thought they knew.

"The Tailos system consists of a pulsating neutron star, or pulsar, surrounded by three gas giants." said Lisa Mandrake who was Surayya's executive officer. "The system went nova about ten thousand years ago. Some Humans were still living in caves at that point. The Pulsar has twin jets of extremely intense radiation shooting from it's poles. The gas giants orbit the equator of the star which mean that they never cross the radiation from the poles.

"isn't that convenient." Spoke Wilma Styles who was one of the ship commanders. "Planets are usually destroyed during the supernova that creates the collapsed star. Now we have three planets tucked away in the only safe place this system can provide."

"Maybe not so safe after all." Lisa said, "Tailos is what they call a magnetar which is a neutron star with extremely strong magnetic fields.

"How strong?" Surayya asked.

"Water is diamagnetic. It is repelled by a magnetic charge. The Human body is 70% water. Tailos could rip the flesh from your bones at a range of two million kilometers." Lisa said.

"Damn" Surayya said.

"Yeah, Damn." One of the ship commanders said.

"I analyzed our initial jump into the system", Lisa continued. "You were right Surayya." Only the ships containing Slayers with magical abilities were destroyed. Whoever build this system wants it clear of magic users above a certain level."

"Meaning?" Surayya asked.

"Meaning we can still do magic, but only at a rudimentary level." said Lisa.

"Tell me about the trap." Surayya asked.

"Somehow, the evil cabal of death…" Lisa was saying.

The women in the room laughed. A few snickers could be heard over the room speakers.

"What else are we going to call them?" Lisa asked. "We don't have any real information on the people who moved the Deeper Well here. Might as well call them the evil cabal of death."

"Let's just call them the Cabal" said Wilma.

"Agreed." Everyone said.

"The Cabal has somehow managed to tap into the magnetic fields of the magnetar and trigger a localized flair. Think of it as lighting on a leash."

"I wish I had some lighting on a leash." muttered Motorria who was Surayya's best friend since she was five.

Surayya blushed. "Moto, you're always thinking about boys." She whispered back to her.

"I still don't see why we couldn't have bought some boys along." Motorria asked.

"Possibility because you would beat them all up?" Surayya said.

"That's how I show my love." Motorria said.

"Pay attention Moto! You may avoid a horrible death." Surayya said with a smile on her face. "As you were saying, Lisa?"

"The Cabal has found a way to control and focus the magnet fields of the pulsar. The fact that they were able to target ten ships in motion speaks to their precise control." Lisa said.

"What if we had non-magnetic ships or some sort of anti-magnetic cover?" One of the ship commanders asked.

"It won't matter" Lisa replied. "These magnetic fields are so strong they warp space-time like gravity. The shifting of these magnetic fields can release in a fraction of a second the energy of over seventy-thousand suns"

"Damn" Wilma said.

"Damn, indeed." said Lisa.

Surayya had an idea from her days on Arrakis. Lisa had used the word lightning. Surayya had often seen the thunderstorms of Dune. There was always a time delay between the flash of lightning and the thunder. She remembered that light has a finite speed.

"Lisa, what was the time delay between the arrival of the first ship with magical slayers and it's destruction?" Surayya asked.

"six point three five two minutes." She answered

"and the time till the destruction of the next ship" Surayya asked.

"six point seven nine minutes." Lisa said.

"and the next?"

"six point eight three minutes." Lisa finished, finally seeing a pattern. "It looks like it takes six minutes for the weapon to recharge, acquire and attack. That's damn impressive if you consider the fact that it takes light four minutes to reach us from Tailos."

Each of the girls in the war room along with rest of the Slayers on the conference call thought about the implications of the weapon's recharge time.

"We can use their weapon against them!" Motorria said, "We've got a six minute window to perform one powerful spell."

Immediately the slayers activated their data screens and reviewed the solar flare activity for Tailos. They made their way quickly through gigabytes of data. Some of the Slayers rolled their eyes upward as they focused inward preferring to do the calculations manually according to their mentat training.

"We need a powerful witch, not just any witch. We need her." Surayya said emphasizing the word "her".

"Our memories of that time are not that clear." Lisa said. "What we can access is vague and not precise enough for us to use. Unless…." She failed to finish.

Surayya Raisa finished the sentence knowing the suffering it would cause her friends.

"Unless we resurrect the memory of Willow Rosenberg" she said, completing Lisa's sentence. "We need a Reverend Mother."

Surayya Raisa, commander of Fish Speaker special forces reserve division, stood as she keyed the inter ship microphone for the benefit of anyone who was not on the conference call.

"Attention all hands, I am initiating the Omega Gamma One protocol. All hands are directed to undergo the Spice Agony immediately." Surayya commanded over the intercom.

Willow Rosenberg was the only person in her memories she, and quite a few of the other Slayers, were afraid of. Willow served as a cautionary tale about the power of magic. There was no guarantee that whoever had the clearest memories of her would not become an abomination. Surayya's throat was dry as she keyed the microphone one last time.

"That is all." She finished.


	8. Chapter 8

I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Copyright 2009.

My family has hated the Atreides for centuries. They have been the sand in our eyes, the stink at our meals, these arrogant Atreides, always standing in our way. I want Leto to appreciate the beauty of what I've done to him. I want him to know that I, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, am the instrument of his family's demise, the extinction of House Atreides and the glorious ascension of House Harkonnen.

**Baron Harkonnen**

**"The Serpent in Paradise"**

** An autobiography**

**Surayya lay on a flat leather covered table drenched in sweat. She was deep in the spice agony. Every nerve in her body burned with a chemical reaction that could only be quenched by a consciousness keyed to every cell in her body. For most of the day she lay in her quarters focusing her mind inward becoming aware of herself down to the cellular level. Her mentat training cataloged and indexed her findings but that was not enough. The pain was buried deeper than just the cells and blood of her biology. The suffering was a weight she held back by the prana-bindu way of balancing tension. But that was not enough. The agony spiked. It went in her and touched every tender part of her flesh. Surayya focused again but she could not block the pain. It spiked again. With it, she could hear herself scream until her vocal cords became raw. The Slayers that stood over her did not move a muscle. This scene was being repeated hundreds of times over throughout the fleet. The Slayers knew there was no way around this. They knew what had to be done. **

**Surayya felt the pain began to build again and she knew she had no defense against it. It spiked again and Surayya was overwhelmed. She focused inward on her body as deep as she could in order to flee the pain and that's where she found what she needed. Surayya understood that her brain is wired to convert information into sensation. What information becomes pleasure, what information becomes pain, what information becomes red is totally arbitrary. The connection between information and sensation was only the result of billions of years of natural selection. It was not written in stone. In a moment of realization Surayya rewired her brain. The pain disappeared. She was where she needed to be. The memories of all of her female ancestors were laid out before her like glittering jewel s on a beach that receded to infinity. **

**Surayya flew down the corridors of tens of thousands of years of memories.**

**"****There!" Surayya thought. "I have the memories of Sunnydale." She thought to herself. " I have the memories of the things and battles fought there. "I know the real reason why Sunnydale was destroyed!" **

******Surayya eyes flew open. She sat upright on the table. "I failed." She said to the slayers who sat around the table. "I have no memories of Willow Rosenberg."**

**"****That's ok, sweetie. " Her friend Motorria said. "We got that covered." Motorria said with an open mouth smile. **

******Surayya leaned forward to take a closer look at her friend. Motorria had changed. Filtered through her new Reverend Mother memories Surayya could tell that Motorria's body language was that of an older girl who was repressed and at the same time highly sexual. **

**"****Did you find her?" Surayya asked anxiously.**

**"****She's not what we thought she was but the power is there. I can feel it. I have memories of magics not available even to Leo." Motorria said. "The stories I could tell you…" Motorria stopped suddenly and looked at Surayya and the other Slayers. "The worm!" she yelped.**

******The eyes of all of the slayers went round and wide as they all recalled the same memory. "We blew up the Mayor at graduation!" they all said with glee. The slayers all fell together and giggled like school girls. **

**"****XO, Status report." Surayya said, suddenly all business.**

**"****We lost fifty seven slayers during the spice agony." Lisa said sadly. "The roster is available online." She said. Surayya knew what Lisa was saying. She probably knew a few of the dead slayers personally.**

******Wilma watched the girls from a distance. Even though she was only a few feet from Lisa she felt as if she were as million miles away. Wilma felt as if she was watching them through eyes that were not her own. She didn't know how or why, maybe it was the magics around Tailos, but unlike the other girls she had access to her male ancestors, to one male ancestor in particular, one ancestor that was stronger than the others. She had access to a red headed ancestor that was a direct descendant of Willow Rosenberg. Wilma could hear the voice of that male ancestor droning painfully in her head.**

**"****I am Baron Vladimir Harkonnen of the House Harkonnen. I am alive!" He said. Wilma squeezed one of her breasts and smiled. "Well now," the baron thought, "this is interesting.**

**"****Hey Wilma, you ok?" Surayya asked, "You look distracted."**

**Wilma paused for a moment and said with a fake smile "Five by Five."**


	9. Chapter 9

I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Copyright 2009.

"The Universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."

J.B.S Haldane

Reverend Mother Surayya Raisa and Reverend Mother Motorria Swati walked along the hallways of the command ship. Their lithe teenage bodies were hidden beneath the formal aba robes worn by the Bene Gesserit for thousands of years. Beneath the robes they wore a gold and white one piece jump suit with a simple white cotton sash that held their ever present Lexan knife. The knives were a graduation gift from Leto himself. They really were unbreakable.

"The Old One's can't die you know." Motorria said. "That means that the Deeper Well is closer to being a prison than anything else."

"The thing is," Surayya added, "we don't even know when they get paroled."

"Parole, that's a funny word." Moto responded. "I remember, originally it meant a word of honor, a promise upon one's faith to fulfill stated conditions. We, Humans, have been using the same words for over ten thousand years." Motorria said. She gleamed with unbounded joy. The sudden flood of new information from her genetic memories colored her perceptions of everything around her. She was seeing the Universe for the first time in her life. Motorria knew it to be deeper more mysterious and stranger than anything she could imagine. There were moments, since she survived her spice agony, that she was overwhelmed by all the new information that flooded into her mind especially information concerning magic. Beneath the world of the physical there was a whole other world of forces she could scarcely believe.

"I…" Surayya stopped in mid sentence. She felt them before she saw them. It felt like space itself had been violated. It felt like something wrong and vulgar had been spat out of the mouth of an old man. It smelled like vinegar and smoke. The Slayer in them awoke. Simultaneously they both reached for their knifes and stood back to back in the old Fedaykin way.

Three monsters condensed out of the air. Two of them appeared before Motorria and one before Surayya. They were tall and black with skin like polished oil. Both Surayya and Motorria inhaled deeply focusing their energy inward. Both of their mental processes speeded up by a factor of ten. The creatures were vaguely humanoid with arms and legs and a head. But the head had no eyes and the mouth was too large and lined with sharp and curved teeth. Motorria had her knife across the throat of the nearest monster moments after it appeared. It spouted warm green blood that blinded her. The second monster took a swipe at her with oversized claws. Motorria had a perfect memory of the position of every object in the hallway including her, Surayya and the monsters. She didn't need to see the other monster to know that it was attacking. Surayya joined the fray by executing a half turn and then a pivot snapping the kneecap of the beast before her with the heel of her left foot. The Weirding Way of fighting incorporated perfect muscle control and mental focus. As the beast fell forward in pain she took her knife and gutted it from belly to its throat. Surayya turned to assist Motorria and was met by an infectious grin.

"That was fun!" Motorria said as she pulled her knife out of the second creature.

Surayya tapped her throat activating a com- link. "Command to Fleet. Status report!"

Various reports were coming in sporadically across the com-link.

"Looks like we survived our first invasion." Surayya said to Motorria. "There are reports of fighting fleet wide. "

Surayya stopped for a moment as she replayed the events of the last few minutes in her mind. The attack came soon after the spice agony, after they resurrected the memory of Willow Rosenberg. Reports from the fleet confirm that it was an asymmetrical attack. The monsters focused more on the slayers with the clearer memory of Willow. Surayya came to mentat prime conclusion.

"Times up." She said. "The Old One's are awaking."


	10. Chapter 10

I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Copyright 2009.

**WILLOW: **(To Giles) Remember that little spat we had before you left? When you were under the delusion that you were still relevant here? You called me a "rank arrogant amateur." Well, buckle up Rupert... 'Cause I've turned pro.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Season 6, Grave

Something stirred in the darkness. It was a shape that was large and a soul that older than the Earth itself. Something stirred and it was angry. The Mind that kept watch over the Holy dead angered at the thought of its space being violated by creatures of such low estate. It called itself Anubis, the guardian of the dead. In orbit around the sacred moon there were five ships that did not belong. Anubis sent a wave of sentinels to destroy them and was shocked that the intruders survived.

"Slayers!" Anubis roared to himself. In the cold darkness, tentacles hundreds of meters long flailed in impotent rage. Slayers have come to defile this sacred place, this holy ground for the rightful rulers of the world. That was unforgiveable. If Slayers were here, now, then the situation in the outside world had become even worse than they had imagined before they had agreed to the long sleep. Anubis did not need the stars to be right to perform his final duty. One by one, he began to awaken the Old Ones so that they could plunge the Universe into an eternal Hell of brutal suffering.

On Arrakis, Leto II was curled into a tight ball in the stone basement of the Keep. He could feel the Old Ones awakening half way across the Universe. He knew what they had in mind. A Universe of eternal darkness lay ahead if his slayers failed. Leto scanned the timelines with his prescient senses. Every possible future was a vision of blood and suffering and death. No matter where Leto looked all he could see was a universe in flames and the shadows of the Old Ones everywhere.

Moneo Stood outside the doorway that lead to Leto's inner sanctum and eyed the spastic movements of Leto's wormlike body and his low persistent moaning. The Fish Speaker that stood with Moneo pressed her face next to the portal that looked inwards to Leto's keep.

"What is wrong with God?" she asked. Her face turned to him with a simple expression.

"God is afraid." Moneo replied with a barely subdued terror.

On the bridge of the flagship "Memories of Dawn", Lisa Mandrake was slammed against the main control panel as a thing with six legs tried to kill her. The pain from her broken arm caused her to wince. She could see white bone poking out through the skin. Her Reverend Mother training helped her block the pain. She rolled to the side to avoid the stab of the creature's stinger. She jammed her Lexan knife upward into the creature's armored belly and pushed the knife backwards until it was nearly split in half along its length. Around her, six other slayers were fully engaged in savage hand to hand combat.

The creatures appeared moments after Motorria figured it all out. Surayya had come to a mentat prime computation that the Old Ones were awakening. It was Motorria with her newly found genetic memories who realized that magic was needed to resurrect the Old Ones. If magic was being used then the defense system must be down.

Reverend Mother Surayya Raisa brought both arms up and blocked the blow from the armored humanoid. She jammed her elbow on its throat and began to crush its windpipe.

"Now Moto!" Surayya screamed to the other Slayer.

Reverend Mother Motorria Swati wiped the daemon blood from her knife as she knelt and completed the pentagram. All the lights went out on the bridge as a green white glow emanated from the floor.

Motorria felt an icy coldness at the base of her spine. Her naturally happy go lucky sprit disappeared as the full memories of Willow Rosenberg spread itself like a dark phoenix across her soul.

The eyes of Motorria Swati turned as black as an open grave. Motorria smiled. The blood of every slayer on the bridge ran cold. Motorria laughed as she disappeared in a whirlpool of smoke.

Surayya pushed the body of the dead intruder off of her as she tapped her throat microphone.

"Fleet Commander to all ships." She said. "Evacuate Tailos now! Repeat, evacuate Tailos Now!"

"This is it." She thought to herself. "The final assault has begun."


	11. Chapter 11

All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Everything else belongs to me.

Arrakis is gone. Leto is dead and there are only a few of us left now. I'm surprised that there are any of us left at all. It's been over three hundred years since we attacked Tailos Three. Leto, what did you do to us? Are we alive because we're Bene Gesserit or because we're Slayers? Was this your back up plan if we lost? Were you going to make us soldiers in Hell? While the Humans fight against the Machines of the Synchronized Worlds we fight in the shadows against that which they have no defense. They will never know our names or what we do and that's ok. We're Slayers. We will always hold back the night.

Reverend Mother Surayya Raisa Atreides

Last known transmission from the Boomerang Nebula

(Technical note: The Boomerang Nebula is one of the coldest places in the Universe. The nebula itself is only one degree above absolute zero. It may contain a Bose-Einstein condensate which would display large scale quantum phenomenon such as temporal indeterminism.)

Aboard the warship "Memories of Dawn" things were falling apart. The ship was being hammered by waves of energy emanating from the artificial moon Tailos three. The moon was glowing. The crew could see it clearly as a diamond hard star against the pale gas giant.

Reverend Mother Surayya Raisa prayed silently for her friend Motorria. Whatever she was doing down there was lighting up the solar system.

Lisa Mandrake moved up behind Surayya at the command console. Surayya could see the fear on her face.

"Two more ships are gone." Lisa said as the ship rocked to the side. "We…" Lisa stopped as something on one of the monitors caught her attention. "The Xander Harris is out of position." Lisa pointed out.

Surayya scanned the control monitors. Lisa was right. One ship was headed back into the maelstrom of Tailos Three.

"That's Wilma's ship." Surayya said. "What is she up to?"

Aboard the Xander Harris, Wilma Plankton ordered her ship into the storm. The warships, as designed by Leto, were tripled armored with an enhanced Holtzman shield and a fair portion of the empire's atomics. The Xander Harris perused a course that would take it within a few hundred kilometers of the moon's surface. The radiation leaking through the shields were already at dangerous levels. In the mind of Wilma Plankton a far more intense storm was raging.

"That's it girl." She heard the Baron Harkonnen say in her mind. "Just a little closer and I will finally have the power to destroy every trace of the damned Atreides." Wilma cradled her head trying to block out the headache that came from nowhere. Every since she had undergone the spice agony the voice of the Baron had grown stronger. Wilma feared she was becoming abomination.

"Not so fast fat boy." Another voice chimed in. "I've seen guys like you my whole life. Always up to no good with a chip on your shoulder. Always thinking you're the Big Bad. Well, I've seen a lot worse than you get a smack down.

"Who dares!" The Baron roared.

"I dare." said the voice from Wilma's distant past. "The name's Faith and you're in for a whoopin."


	12. Chapter 12

All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Everything else belongs to me.

"Are you the bad Slayer now? Am I the good Slayer now?"

Faith Lehane

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

S07E18: Dirty Girls

Captain Wilma Plankton slumped in her command chair as a war raged in her mind. She could feel competing forces struggle for dominance in her consciousness. Her body reacted to each psychic onslaught as if it was a physical sensation. She could feel her legs go numb and then a burning pain along the side of her body. No sooner had the agony began to fade she would feel an unbounded joy and an unfettered release which would cause a welcome peace to settle upon her soul. Captain Wilma Plankton groaned with the weight of untold suffering and sighed with unbounded joy. Worried looks passed between members of the bridge crew. The Xander Harris was nearing the bright and burning hell that was Tailos Three.

She chased the demon through the field of years that were the memories of Wilma Plankton. Through gardens of experience, past rows of preborn memories, over shrubs of dreams she chased it until finally she cornered it by the tree of Wilma's life.

"l say dear girl there's no need for us to struggle like this. There's plenty of room in this mind for the both of us." Baron Harkonnen said to Faith. "I know your kind." He said with a low and seductive tone. "You just want to belong." The Baron approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I would love to be your Father, and you can be my very special little girl."

Faith stabbed him in the belly with a curved knife. "How do you like my Gom Jabbar?" Faith asked as the Baron dropped first to his knees and then flat on his back. "You should have learned from Alia at your first death." Faith spoke to the Barons dying image.

During her pursuit of the baron in Wilma's mind Faith had noticed the arrangement of physiology around her. Wilma was unique among all of the Slayers. She was the common descendent of both Willow Rosenberg and Faith Lehane. The Baron Harkonnen was one of her ancestors as well but Wilma should not have had access to the memory of him. That was why the Baron had to be defeated. He didn't belong. His presence here was unnatural.

"This is no place for a good Irish girl from south Boston." The memory of Faith thought. Around her the mental landscape began to change. The imagined trees and grass melted into sand. The sky turned from blue to pink. Faith Lehane stood alone on a dune.

"You are not alone daughter." A kind female voice behind her said. "You can become one of us and join us on the Hajj.

Faith turned to see a tall tanned woman wrapped in aba robes. "Who are you?" she asked her tone defiant. "I'm in no mood for another freak show."

The woman lowered her hood to revel a kind round face with dark leathery skin tanned by the desert heat and wind.

"I am Lady Jessica Atreides, Mistress of House Atreides, Supreme Reverend Mother of the Fremen Tribes of Arrakis and Mother of Paul Maud' dib. We can offer you refuge, companionship and a place to belong." She said in a soft even tone with no trace of the Voice.

"We?" Faith asked. "Who is this "we" lady?"

Lady Jessica gave the sign. Around her, human figures rose up from the sand. Some of them only inches from Faith. None of the hidden Fremen had reveled their presence beforehand. Faith was amazed. These were excellent warriors.

"Sure, why not." Faith said to Jessica. "I don't want to be alone."

Out of the desert came a huge sandworm large enough to block most of the desert sky. One by one the Fremen mounted the sandworm. Finally Faith mounted and then Jessica. From the top of the sandworm Faith could see sand and space stretching out for what must have been a form of eternity.

"We have all of Wilma's memories here. But we shall tread lightly disturbing nothing. Over time she will forget the pains of this moment. My daughter will be well and whole." Jessica said to Faith as they rode into the sunset.

Captain Wilma Plankton opened her eyes as peace settled upon her. She wiped the sweat from her face and sat upright. Wilma smiled. Her crew relaxed. She was alright. Everything was alright with the exception of the huge burning planet that covered half of the view screens.


	13. Chapter 13

All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Everything else belongs to me.

"I created them, trained them, set them upon the Universe and then abandoned them.

Some would call me cruel or short sighted. But remember, there are things in the universe that Humans are not ready to confront. To that end, I am glad that I reintroduced the Slayers back into the Universe."

Leto II

Comments at the Slayer Graduation

Anubis flailed it's tentacles at the thing that assaulted it. Four times the intruder had hurled magics at it that were as terrible as his own. His green blood speckled the graven landscape. Anubis could feel his life force draining from him. But it was too late. He would succeed. The Old One's would rise.

Reverend Mother Motorria Swati viewed the landscape before her in horror as she floated in the center of Tailos Three. Things, horrible unnatural, huge things, walked, swayed and floated between the cracked and ancient grave markers. Something, the size of six city blocks, which looked like a giant jellyfish ringed with florescent green and red colors, was materializing out of an open grave. Motorria could sense its aching desire to feed on Human flesh.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Motorria repeated the litany against fear. She could feel the presence of the mind and arcane magics that were releasing such creatures into the world. She refused to be distracted. She had a task to perform.

"…incinerate!" Motorria completed the spell as an intense white light the size of a pencil found her shoulder and burned right through it. The pain overwhelmed her as she fell out of the sky.

Five hundred million kilometers away the pulsar Tailos flared as its magnetic fields realigned and compressed along the axis that contained the moon Tailos Three. The energy of seventy thousand suns leapt across the void.

She heard it's thoughts as she fell to her death.

"No magics can harm this place!" Anubis thought triumphantly. "This holy place is a fortress. Nothing else would do as the Citadel of the Gods!"

Motorria Swati, eyes black as night, smiled when she heard that statement. She stopped her fall and righted herself. Without even a gesture she wished the wound away and focused her mind on the entity that was about to get a very rude surprise.

"You know the problem with most bad guys?" Motorria asked rhetorically. "They're soooo stupid. Anubis, do you understand that everything runs on energy, even magic?"

Motorria snapped her fingers and disappeared. Anubis made a murderous leap for her as a shaft of energy punched into the moon like the fist of an angry God. The surface of Tailos Three burned hotter than Earth's sun.

Microseconds before the blast wave hit the moon Motorria reached out with her senses and located the nearest ship. She teleported into what she hoped was the bridge of the ship and not a bulk head.

Motorria looked into the wide eyes of Capitan Wilma Plankton as she materialized aboard the Xander Harris.

"So," Motorria said in her typical smart ass way. "What have you been up to?"

"Conn, light speed now!" Wilma barked to the young girl at the control station. Wilma turned her attention back to Motorria. "Whatever miracles you've got left we need them now." She said.

The Xander Harris shuttered violently, knocking them off of their feet, as it jumped into hyperspace.

Anubis started the magics that would open the portals that would allow the Old Ones to escape to the Universe outside. Space before him shimmered as a black maw began to form. The dark portal wavered then faded into nothing. Anubis tried again and the same thing happened. Slowly he began to realize what the witch had done. His masters, the Old Ones, hungry and angry from their long sleep began to gather around him demanding their freedom. For the first time in his existence Anubis knew fear.

"How long will it burn?" Surayya asked Motorria as they reclined in the whirlpool bath. A few of the other Slayers had joined them in the Jacuzzi. The steam and warm bubbles relaxed them far better than hours of Bene Gesserit meditation.

"The surface of the moon will radiate hard x-rays for a few hundred years but that's beside the point." Motorria said as she leaned back into the bubbles. "What most people don't get is that everything and I mean everything, including magic, runs on energy. Most people don't notice that fact because magic requires almost no energy from this universe to produce its effects. Magic requires so little energy from this universe that it can be powered by something as weak as a talisman or a Human. Magic is a fractal intercept between two universes."

Many of the Slayers began to roll their eyes. They all recognized Motorria new found tendency to lecture.

"To make a long story short, I placed a second lock on the prison. I took a generic binding spell and gave it nuclear power. The entire output of the Tailos pulsar is now fueling that one spell. That's why the star went dark. The Old One's have awakened but they'll never escape their jail. Motorria smiled. She was happy.


	14. Chapter 14

All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Everything else belongs to me.

"In the desert one direction is as good as another."

--Old Fremen saying

**Epilogue**

Seven days later Reverend Mother Surayya Raisa stood on the empty training ground where she and hundreds of other Slayers had graduated only a few weeks ago. Surayya exhaled as she turned and looked upwards at Leto's Citadel. She could see the scorch marks she and her sisters made in their failed attempt to kill him.

"We were so arrogant." Surayya thought sadly to herself. "If Leto was still alive I would beg him for forgiveness." Surayya wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye.

"You give moisture to the dead?" one of her ancestors asked. She could hear the awe inspired by her simple action. She could feel the speakers reverence for her waste of water.

This morning Leto II, God Emperor of Dune was murdered by the Fish Speaker Nayla while crossing the Idaho River. Leto's flesh had scattered upon impact with the river. All that was left of him was a swarm of sandtrout and blue acrid smoke.

"Captain, are you ok?" A young female voice came across her radio.

"Just having one last look around." Surayya responded. "It may be a while before I can get back here."

"The Imperial Guard has called for reinforcements." The radio responded. "This place will be crawling with a fleet of pissed off Fish Speakers. I might end up shooting at one of my old teachers!"

"Roger that." Surayya responded. After Leto's death, the planet Arrakis had gone into a total lock down. Surayya didn't care. She fought her way through a division of Fish Speakers to stand in her old training ground. She accepted the fact she didn't have long here. The Fish Speakers were calling for reinforcements and she didn't really want to end up shooting at her former teachers.

Surayya knelt down and scooped up a hand full of sand and carefully placed it into glass container. This would be the last time she would ever be able to set foot on Arrakis. She needed the connection to the place where she was born.

"When my father was killed by the Harkonnen I kept his ducal ring even as my mother and I fled into the desert that terrible night. I know what it means to hold on to those things you can't let go of." The voice inside of her said. "Take this solace with you. You and your sisters have achieved the golden path. No one with prescience can find you. No prophet can see you, no prophecy can hold you. You are free to do anything." The voice within her concluded.

"Thank you, Paul" Surayya said to herself. She keyed her radio for a pick-up.

"Sleep well Old Man." Surayya said thinking of Leto. "You did good."

Twenty minutes later Surayya was back aboard "Memories of Dawn." No sooner had she entered the bridge than the images of both Wilma and Lisa flashed on one of the view screens.

"Where to commander?" Lisa asked. Her face still had some slight scarring from the battle at Tailos three but her arm was healing nicely.

Surayya had ordered the remaining ships to scatter to the scarcely populated regions of the galaxy and to hunt monsters wherever they found them. "Memories of Dawn" was the last remnant of her fleet.

Surayya felt older than her sixteen years. The comfort and assurance of her family and the Fish Speakers training center was behind her. Leto was dead and the Empire was falling into chaos. Everything she knew was gone and yet one thing remained. Last night she dreamed of a nest of vampires at the core of the Tleilaxu system. The Slayer within her knew what to do.

"Helm, set a course for the outer Tleilaxu system." She said. A smile spread across Surayya's face as she fantasized about the hunt. Her ship broke orbit from Dune. Around it, the stars shone hard and bright like millions of colored lights wrapped in eternal night.

The "Memories of Dawn" leapt into the darkness.

**-Fin-**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Notes:**

Scientific American came out with a cool article about magnetars: .?id=magnetars

The Wikipedia article can be found here: .org/wiki/Magnetar

There really is a Boomerang Nebula. The article is here:

.

_I'm giving serious thought into turning this into a series. Let me know what you think._


End file.
